


Melee

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [56]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Battle Scenes, Blood Addiction, Crushes, F/F, F/M, Female Friendship, Fix-It, Gen, Healing, Male-Female Friendship, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Psychological Torture, Rescue, Sisters, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, Unrepentantly Evil Billith, Vampire Family, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-23
Updated: 2014-08-23
Packaged: 2018-02-14 08:49:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2185413
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Billith finally emerges amongst his minions to engage his combatants directly; while the legions of his followers fight physically, the team learns his style is decidedly more reliant on emotional manipulation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Melee

**Author's Note:**

> Part four, "Nothing Ordinary."

While Nora finishes with the tech, the other girls file out of the room one by one: Danika, out first, is early enough to gape at Luna the lion still grooming herself; Braelyn emerges as Luna’s slipping her clothes back on and shares a nervous laugh with her sister; Willa’s just in time to take one of Sam’s sides as Tara takes the other to help him stand shakily on his just-healed legs.

Even with that, though, he looks pretty beat up, and Tara can’t help but fret. “Are you gonna be okay?” she asks in a low voice. “Tell me true, not just what your pride would make you say.”

Sam manages a tired smile. “I’ve been better,” he admits with a little shrug, “but I’m more worried about Luna.”

After all, the woman in question, though human once more, breathing, and awake, is sitting slumped against the wall. She still looks pale, and every inhale and exhale is a production.

“Luna,” Sam says gently.

No response. _Inhale-exhale._

“Luna,” Tara says more forcefully. “Hey, talk to me.”

Unnoticed for the moment, Nora slips out of the control room, leans against the door with her arms folded over her chest.

“M’fine,” Luna mumbles, shutting her eyes and tipping her head back.

“Whoa, maybe don’t do that,” Willa exclaims.

“You need to stay awake, okay?” Tara cautions.

Willa takes notice of her aunt, comes over beside her. “A lackey nearly drained her,” she explains in a whisper, “but two others hurt Sam, so she transformed –”

“Into a _lion_ ,” Danika cuts in, awed. “An actual lion.”

“And she took care of them,” Willa finishes. “I think now she’s in shock.”

“I can hear you,” Luna says, sounding both annoyed and amused (more the former than the latter).

Nora frowns, then moves to Luna’s side, ignoring the way that the woman seems to sense her there and instinctively shy away. “Luna,” she says soothingly. “That’s a very pretty name. I knew a Luna once; wonderfully sweet girl, she was.”

“What’s she doin’?” Braelyn asks Willa, because honestly, Willa’s odds of understanding her aunt are marginally better than anyone else’s.

Better, but not best, apparently.  “I’m not sure,” Willa says sheepishly. “Gentling her, maybe?”

“Luna, I’m going to need you to open your eyes and take some of my blood,” Nora continues.

“No, thanks,” Luna says. “I’m fine.”

“Willa tells me that one of those vampires nearly drained you,” Nora counters.

“I was all right to shift,” Luna retorts, her eyes opening – step one.

“Which I’m sure took more out of you,” Nora suggests. “Please let me give you some of my blood.”

“It won’t hurt you,” Sam tells his girlfriend. “Just let her help. Think about Emma.”

Luna rolls her eyes. “Excuse me if I’m not exactly keen on taking her blood,” she says, the rest of it going unspoken: she understands why everyone is working together, that’s important, but of everyone she especially doesn’t trust Nora.

Sam pauses to consider this, then offers, “Tara or Willa could do it.”

“I probably shouldn’t,” Tara says. “I just gave you about as much as I ought to spare.”

“Willa could do it,” Sam amends.

But Nora heaves a sigh. “I understand why you wouldn’t want me to help you,” she says to Luna, tone softening even more. “I wouldn’t trust me either, in your shoes. But I’m older than the other two and stronger, and we’re running out of time, and _you need to heal yourself_.”

Luna turns to really look at Nora for the first time, studying her for clues. “Fine,” she finally says. “Just this once, and it’s only going one way.”

Nora smiles. “I promise,” she says, opening a vein and pressing her wrist to Luna’s mouth.

 

* * *

 

“Send Lafayette a message,” Sookie tells Adilyn as they head up to the main level. “Let him know what’s comin’.”

“’Course,” Adilyn agrees, whipping out her phone to do just that.

“Are we plannin’ to lure Bill down here, then?” Sookie turns to ask Eric.

“If somehow we haven’t already brought him out by now, I expect this should,” Eric replies, smirking.

“This?” Jessica asks, sticking her head between the other two.

As she asks it, the lights flicker off and then back on, a siren goes off. Eric just keeps on smiling.

“An invitation to come play,” he says.

Not moments later, Nora and Tara come bursting into the room, Willa following with their group’s others at a slightly slower pace.

“You goosed the system?” Eric asks playfully.

Nora nods, rolling her eyes because that’s obvious. “Sam and Luna got hurt,” she reports. “We took care of it, but I’m not sure –”

“Where the fuck is Pam?” Tara interrupts.

“And Char?” Braelyn demands.

Another set of doors swings open and to everyone’s horror, a new pack of minions storms in, one holding a struggling Charlaine about the waist and another with silver chains wrapped around Pam’s neck and almost leashing her.

And behind them all, a… surprisingly normal-looking (if slightly Gothed-out) Bill Compton. Corporeal and clean as ever.

“Looks like the gang’s all here,” he says. “Jessica, you got my invitation after all!”

Jessica’s mouth drops open. “ _Invitation_?” she repeats incredulously. “Whatever the fuck that was, it nearly ripped me open.”

“For which I do apologize,” he says, all faux-cordial smile. “But despite your betrayals and _rebellious attitude_ , I did believe – do believe – that when the world changes, as it will, it’s important to have your family by your side.”

Jessica glances around at the others: Sookie, who’s been a pain in the ass sometimes but better to her than she deserves more of the time; Adilyn, who she already feels this crazy-strong protective instinct toward, and her sisters, all brave and sweet and silly; Willa, the closest thing to a real friend her own age that she’s ever really had, and Tara, the closest thing to a best friend that she’s ever really had; Sam and Luna, who’ve been better to her, better to all of them, than most people would; Nora, pretty, confusing, sophisticated, vulnerable Nora, who’s like a big sister and she really hopes that’s in the vampire way; Eric and Pam, who fostered her through her infancy when her Maker didn’t want her and took her in again, if by default, when said Maker went crazy and the world went to hell.

“I do have my family by my side,” she spits out, lunging forward to twist the head off the baby holding Charlaine.

A split second after she sees Jessica move, Tara goes to stake the minion holding Pam, growling as she does. Pam staggers forward once the vampire explodes, the chain dropping to the floor, and Tara’s there in a flash to catch her, wrapping strong arms around her waist and affectionately whispering in her ear, “What stupid shit did you get yourself into this time?”

“I was just tryin’ to do the noble thing, which - see if I’m gonna try that again any time soon,” Pam retorts, smirking.

Jessica, meanwhile, is returning Charlaine to her sisters; Sookie stands in front of them and ordered Adilyn-Charlaine-Danika-Braelyn they join hands, forming a brave and sweet and silly barricade.

And Bill – Billith? – starts clapping slowly, stepping forward. None of the remaining minions move an inch, presumably waiting for orders. “You’ve stepped up your game,” he says, not without a certain note of pride in his voice. “Very impressive.”

“Yeah, well,” Sookie speaks up, “we knew this time there wasn’t a chance in hell of saving you.”

“I don’t need saving, Sookie,” he says, like he pities her for thinking it. “I am so much more than I’ve ever been. I am what I was made to be.”

“Bollocks,” Nora mutters.

“And slowly the world is becoming what it was supposed to be, too,” Bill continues.

Eric pushes out in front of the rest of them, raises his gun and points it at Bill’s heart. Some of the minions start to stir, but they don’t move. “A Biblical feeding ground,” he clarifies.

“As the book demands,” Bill replies. “As my word is given.”

“Are you Lilith?” Nora asks, because she wants his version of the truth.

“I consumed her blood at her urging,” he says. “She is in me and speaks to me.”

That’s all Eric needs to hear, and he fires, the bullet going through Bill’s heart and out the other side of his chest. All of the fairy girls gasp, but nobody else reacts.

“You didn’t _really_ think it could be that easy,” Bill chuckles, and with a flick of his wrist he waves his legions forward.

Then all hell breaks loose.

There are suddenly minions attacking every last one of them: a pair locked in hand-to-hand combat with Tara and Pam, this child-sized thing throwing punches at Willa, the Bellefleurs firing light at any who dare to get close and Sookie doing the same for both herself and Sam and Luna, Nora and Eric teaming up back-to-back to aim stakes and bullets, Jessica speeding about providing backup for anyone who needs it.

Bill – _Billith,_ despite his civilized appearance it’s clear he’s nothing but the not-technically-demon now – barks orders, sending minions this way and that and they’re all paying such attention to their individual battles that they don’t notice him slip in amongst the army.

And then, as the fights rage on, right when Eric steps out of formation to stake a particularly vicious soldier, Bill is right up behind Nora, one arm wrapping tight around her shoulders and pinning her against him.

“You had been such a devotee,” he murmurs. “Such a loyal little girl. What happened?”

Nora grits her teeth, goes tense, but she doesn’t squirm. “I opened my eyes,” she hisses.

Bill laughs. “And saw lies,” he says.

“I saw what I needed to,” she retorts. “I don’t doubt your divinity, or at least that you’ve some sort of powers, but the time is past for me to unquestioningly devote myself to some evil bitch with narcotic blood.”

“That was always some of the draw, wasn’t it,” Bill whispers. “The thrill of the forbidden, that _taste_ you’d do anything to get more of. How easy it was to get you hooked. Oh, she told me.”

“Lilith,” Nora says disbelievingly.

“Salome,” Bill corrects, noticing with a delighted crowing how the name makes Nora go stiff. “She told me how quick you were to swear allegiance. Barely a drop of the blood in you, and you were sworn. Just as she’d hoped.”

“Don’t dare speak of her,” Nora mutters before she can think better of it. “Murderer.”

“She was weak,” Bill shrugs. “Weakened by vanity, by delusions of grandeur, by sentiment.”

All at once Nora pushes out from his grip, claws at Bill, reaches for a stake and the silver knife she’s had sheathed both. “Weaknesses that aren’t unique to her,” she snarls.

“Clearly,” he chuckles. “Even as you fight what she wanted to stand for, you mean to avenge her.”

He lunges forward, pins her to the floor, grabs the knife in her hand and before she can do anything about it lifts the hem of her shirt and drags the blade back and forth across the bare skin of her belly.

She’s withstood much worse, of course, she’s been tortured within centimeters of her life, but this is unexpected enough that she cries out in pain, and it calls the others to attention.

They’ve made a good showing – the floor and walls are splattered with blood and viscera. Tara and Pam are guarding the non-vampires (Sam and Luna both naked as indicates recent shifts and looking even worse for wear, Danika nursing a hurt shoulder, Charlaine with a gash all down her cheek); Willa and Jessica are atop the couches firing bullets from that slight vantage (if they weren’t so terrifyingly angry, covered in blood, they’d look like kids playing hot lava monster) but once Nora screams they freeze.

“You were a loyal little girl once,” Bill says, dropping fang and piercing his wrist. “You could be again.”

And despite her screams, despite her writhing under him and trying desperately to bat him away, he drips the blood into her open wound and steps back. All at once her vision swims, her screams start to seem as if they’re coming from a place outside of herself.

“No,” Eric and Jessica shout in unison, both dispatching their nearest attackers and rushing forward, Jessica to engage the minions who’ve grouped in front of her Maker and Eric to Nora’s side.

“Oh, fuck,” she’s repeating. “Shit, it’s _in_ me, I…”

“I’m not leaving you,” Eric says, kneeling beside her and taking her hand. “I’ll ride this out with you.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” Nora chides, though it comes out halted and she punctuates it with an incongruous giggle. “You have to – Jessica, she has to – make sure of it.” She throws her head back against the floor, laughs again. “It feels so _good_ , though, like a bit of heaven right here on Earth…”

“Willa!” Eric roars, and when she rushes over, he orders, “You will take your aunt out of here and stay with her. Allow no one else near, do you understand?”

“But Braelyn –”

“Especially not Braelyn,” Eric shouts. “None of the fairies. Find a place with a lock on the door and lock it, then guard her with your life.”

Willa eyes her aunt, terrified and confused both. “What’s wrong with her?” she asks.

“It’s Lilith’s blood,” he says. “You saw, that _fucker_ forced it into her.  It… it does this to…”

Willa nods - she knows enough to fill in those blanks - and thinks about this a moment. “Pam,” she shouts, “I need your gloves.”

Pam shoots another minion, heads over with a surprisingly sympathetic glance at Nora to pass them along. “Here,” she says.

“Look out for Braelyn while I’m gone,” Willa insists. “Okay?”

“Of course,” Pam murmurs, nodding at each of her family members in turn before heading off to engage more lackeys.

Then Willa speeds to pick up the chains that had been around Pam’s neck. She approaches carefully, voice mimicking the one that Nora had used on Luna earlier. “Aunt Nora, hey,” she says. “I’m really sorry about this, but I’m gonna have to silver you a little, okay?”

There’s a part of her that’s still rational, apparently, because Nora nods and fixes a glassy-eyed stare on her niece. “I've been bad,” she says simply, though it’s unclear what she’s constituting as bad just now.

“No!” Willa exclaims. “No, I’m just here to make sure nothin’ bad happens to you.”

“Or because of me,” Nora insists, her voice slurring.

“Nora, listen to me,” Eric says, squeezing her hand. “You need to go with Willa. You need to let her watch over you for a little while.”

“I’m not a child,” Nora grumbles. “I don’t _want_ to hurt anyone, I just… oh, fuck, that _smell_ , it’s sin and paradise all at once...”

“Nora, _no_ ,” Eric shouts. He nods Willa closer, motions for her to take Nora’s other hand so they can haul her to her feet. “You’re going to be all right, you just need to get out of here _now_.”

Nora sighs, casts a longing look back at the Bellefleurs. “Is that what candy tastes like?” she asks dreamily. “I’ve all but forgotten.”

“The door on the right once you’re in the foyer should have a lock,” Luna calls out, wincing as she recalls what happened there these couple of weeks ago.

Eric sees them out and makes sure they’re secured safely in the former television studio before returning to the group and stepping up beside Jessica, who’s bloodier than she had been even a second earlier and staring angrily at the door to what Eric knows to be the room where Lilith’s blood was once kept.

“He retreated, didn’t he,” Eric says.

“He did,” Jessica confirms, clenching her fist.

“Are you ready to take him down?” Eric asks. “It might well have to be you that does it.”

“I know,” she says. “Nora told me.” She makes a face. “Let’s go. Let’s do this.”

So Eric starts leading her toward the antechamber, nodding to the others so they know what’s going on. But before they make it all the way, Sookie runs up beside them, gazing up at Eric with fire in her eyes. “I’m coming too,” she says.

“Are you sure?” Jessica asks, terrified. “You know what he’s…”

“I’m sure,” Sookie insists.

“Then on we go,” Eric declares.


End file.
